


No drama but our own

by AnaIsFangirling (Ana_K_Lee)



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Adultery, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bisexual Rick Grimes, Like a little, Lori Grimes Bashing, M/M, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2017-07-09
Packaged: 2018-11-29 16:43:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11444892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ana_K_Lee/pseuds/AnaIsFangirling
Summary: In this story, Lori and Shane were having an affair for a year before Rick got shot. At the quarry, he finally confronts Shane and Lori and reunites with a certain redneck he had been having his own affair with for months before his coma.





	No drama but our own

**Author's Note:**

> My first Rickyl, yay!!
> 
> Enjoy!

As he rode through the city on the back of the horse he had found on the way, Rick Grimes started to doubt he would ever find his son again. Atlanta was a tomb, there was no shelter, no military camp. Hell, there probably was no surviv-

“Psst!”

The sound startled Rick who pulled on the reins to stop the horse before looking around. He couldn’t see anyone and thought for a moment that he had imagined the discreet call for his attention until he heard it again.

“Psst! Hey you on the horse! Look up!” Someone hissed. Rick looked up as suggested and found a young Asian guy wearing a red cap and a baseball jersey on the fire escape of the building right next to him. Rick opened his mouth to ask if he knew if there were other survivors in Atlanta but the young man snapped before Rick could say anything.

“Are you crazy? The city is crawling with geeks! You can’t go in there with a freaking horse dude!”

Rick felt really stupid, he had not realized that the horse was basically a four course meal for walkers, although they would probably still have some room for a tasty deputy after that.

“I’m looking for my family, is there some kind of camp in the city? Where is everyone?” Rick stage-whispered back to the stranger.

“There’s no one here man, everyone died… I’m sorry. Look, I’m just scavenging with a few people from my group, but we have a camp with a bunch of other survivors. It’s just outside the city, at the quarry. Go back to the highway, you’ll see a sign after a few miles. Tell them Glenn sent you, tell them we’ll be back in a few hours okay? But don’t stay here with the horse, you’ll get killed. And don’t fire that gun, sound attracts them.” The guy, Glenn apparently, said before going back up and disappearing on top of the building. Rick wanted to stop and think for a minute but he noticed several walkers coming his way, he had no choice. He motioned the horse to turn around and they made their way out of the city back from where they came.

When he was finally back on the highway, away from walkers, he started to think about Carl. He wanted to find his son more than anything, but if he wasn’t in Atlanta then he was probably gone, they probably all were. Everyone he had ever known, everyone he cared about…

Rick tried not to think about it, but the faces of everyone he’d lost kept flashing in his mind. When he finally noticed the sign indicating the quarry, he took a deep breath and let out a long sigh before motioning the horse in the right direction. Hopefully those people knew more about what had happened in Atlanta.

Soon he saw a few tents, an old RV and some cars forming a small camp. There were people doing chores, some of them saw him and froze. He must have been a strange sight with his uniform, his bag of guns and, well… the horse.

He was about to say something, probably something stupid like “I come in peace.”, when he heard Carl’s voice screaming “Dad!” He couldn’t believe it, his son was right here, at Glenn’s camp, running towards him. Rick jumped off the horse, throwing the bag on the floor before he ran to his son, kneeling right before the boy to throw his arms around him.

They were both sobbing, their heads buried the each other’s neck. For a moment, Rick ignored the rest of the world as he clinged to Carl, wishing they could stay like that forever. When the sobbing stopped, Rick looked up over Carl’s shoulder and saw Lori watching him with a deeply confused look. Then he looked around some more and saw Shane, still with his shotgun as if they had been on duty. His partner seemed torn between rejoicing that his best friend was alive and something else that Rick couldn’t place. He couldn’t really blame Shane for not wanting him to be alive. 

Lori had been the one to start it, the cheating. Their marriage had been in shambles for a while but, somehow, Rick had remained positive that they would make it. It was just a rough patch, that’s what everyone said, even Shane. But then he had seen them talking extremely close to each other during a barbecue at their house. It didn’t look like anything at the time until Carl talked about Shane coming to the house when Rick had been visiting his mother for a few days, barely two days after the barbecue. 

It kept happening after that. Rick noticed things between them, heard hushed conversations and saw a few discrete touches when they thought no one was looking. He lost all hope for their marriage, yet said nothing. At first he had told himself he was just waiting for them to admit it, but after months of this, he’d stopped pretending to care. He didn’t ask for a divorce for Carl’s sake. He had kept his mouth shut so he wouldn’t bring all that drama to his workplace. 

And then he had met someone… but that was another story altogether.

____

Staying at the camp with Lori was just as awkward as the last few months of their marriage. Maybe even worse since now he had Shane casting him weird looks all the time. The moment she had recovered, Lori had hugged him and played the perfect wife. She cried in relief, grabbed his head in her hands and kissed him… She might have been happy to see him, but Rick wasn’t fooled. His reappearing was probably going to fuck up the life they had build in this camp, but he couldn’t care less. He had Carl, he didn’t need Lori or Shane. If they wanted to be together, he wouldn’t stop them.

Once the reunion was over, he told Glenn’s message to everyone, causing a few relieved sighs in the camp before everyone went back to whatever they were doing. Rick saw Shane coming his way and quickly escaped, taking Carl’s hand and asking him to give him a tour of the camp. 

He spent a few hours with Carl before offering Dale, the old man who owned the RV, to replace him on watch. Shane had been going through the bag of guns in the RV but he soon came out and joined Rick on the roof. They both stayed silent for a moment until Shane broke down and started talking while staring at his fidgeting hands.

“I thought… I thought you were dead, man, I swear… I wouldn’t have let you there if I’d known… You believe me, right?”

“Sure.” Rick said without sparing a glance at his former partner. And he did believe it. Shane might have wanted him gone from Lori’s life but he wouldn’t have let Rick to die in that hospital. 

“Rick… What’s wrong man? You’ve been here for hours and you’ve barely talked to Lori or me... “

“I didn’t realise we had something to talk about.”

“Ric-” 

“Unless you want us to talk about you and Lori.” Rick said, still looking straight in front of him. Shane froze for a moment, then he kept opening and closing his mouth in an attempt to find something to say. When he finally said something, it wasn’t something Rick had expected.

“We thought you were dead… Lori, she… She needed someone, to cope with all off this, and I was there… That’s all it was, Rick.”

For a second, Rick almost believed it… But he knew Shane better than that.

“And before I got shot? What did she need you for then?”

“I don’t kn-”

“Don’t… Don’t bother Shane. I don’t care anymore, I’ve made my peace with it. She’s all yours.” Rick said, finally looking at the man sitting next to him.

An awkward silence settled between them until Shane got up and left without a word. From his viewpoint, Rick saw him talking to Lori, whispering urgently in her ear. Her head snapped up and she looked up at her husband with a mix of anger and guilt. Rick hadn’t lied, he didn’t care anymore. The world they lived in had no room left for that kind of drama.

____

The scavenging group came back right before dark. They had run into a few problems but had still managed to grab enough food for the night. One of them only stayed for a few minutes before disappearing in the woods, apparently his brother had been out there hunting for hours. No one in the camp seemed to care about it though.

The rest of them ate dinner together around a big campfire, except for a man and his wife and daughter who chose to sit around a smaller fire.

Rick sat with Carl, ignoring Lori and Shane as they sat next to them. They were all chatting happily, Glenn making fun of Rick by describing how he had seen him ride into town like some lone ranger, before Shane had to pick a bone with Ed for putting too much wood in his fire. It was obvious to Rick that Ed was a bad guy who probably beat his wife, but he still resented Shane for changing the joyful mood into an awkward silence. 

Finally, Dale asked Rick how he’d survived and even though there wasn’t much to say, Rick told them what had happened to him since he had woken up in his hospital bed.

When the time came for everyone to go to bed, Carl dragged his father to the tent they used and Lori followed them silently. It only had a small cot for carl and an air-mattress Rick and Lori would have to share, but he was too tired to care. Rick took of his uniform, his back turned to Lori. Keeping his undershirt over his boxers, he laid down on the edge of the mattress to face Carl, wrapped the blanket over him and closed his eyes.

He wouldn’t fall asleep easily, he never did, but he hoped Lori wouldn’t want to talk in case Carl woke up. He was wrong.

“We need to talk Rick.” She said practically as soon as Carl fell asleep.

“Not now.” He said briskly. 

“We can’t… Carl just got you back, he doesn’t need to see his family torn apart like that. Not yet.”

Rick sat up abruptly to stare at his wife.

“Are you seriously suggesting that we pretend to be a happy family? I’ve been doing that for a year Lori, an entire year. The cat is out of the bag now, we don’t need to pretendent that we still love each other.”

Lori paused for a brief moment as tears formed in her eyes.

“Why didn’t you say anything? If you knew all along, why…?”

“I don’t kn-… I don’t know anymore. I guess I just… I was afraid of change.” He said, chuckling bitterly. “And look at us now… Sleeping in a tent, scavenging for food… Don’t you think we have enough to worry about without having to live a lie on top of it all?”

“What do we tell Carl?”

“What every divorcing parents tell their kids; It’s not his fault, we just don’t feel that way about each other anymore.”

“And the others?” Lori added in a whisper.

“What about them?” Rick asked, confused.

“I just don’t want them to thi-”

“Lori, no offence, but I don’t care what the people of this camp think of us.” Rick said with an irritated tone before lying back down, his back still turned to her. The world had gone to shit but somehow, Lori still cared about her image. Some things never changed.

____

When Rick woke up, he was alone in the tent. He got dressed in the simple blue jeans and white t-shirt he found folded on the bed next to him and got out to join the group. He must have slept in, the sun was already pretty high and everyone seemed busy with chores. Carol, Ed’s wife, was actually ironing his uniform which looked completely out of place in the middle of their makeshift camp. He made sure to thank her before looking around for Carl. He ended up asking Dale where his son was and the old man pointed towards the back of the camp saying the kids were playing somewhere that way. Rick thanked him and ignored the puzzled look of the man. He found Carl and Sophia, Carol’s 12-year-old daughter, a little further than they should have been and told them off. He took them back to camp and reminded them to stay where the person on watch could see them.

Now that he had Carl back he finally realized that keeping a kid safe in a world like this wouldn’t be easy. Back before he got shot, Carl was starting his pre-teen years and had been slowly asking for more freedom, but now they had to keep him closer than ever and no matter how dangerous the world is, kids always test their parents’ limits. He just hoped his son wouldn’t get hurt in the process. 

For a few hours, Rick helped with whatever he could, which wasn’t much as it turned out. Everyone already had their jobs and there actually wasn’t that much to do. He was about to patrol the perimeter when a loud voice rang out from the edge of the forest.

“The heroes have returned!” A man with a thick southern accent shouted. He appeared between the trees followed by a smaller man who was carrying a large deer on his shoulders. 

“What the hell Dixon, are you trying to get every bitter down here?” Shane protested. 

“And how about a little gratitude? Y’all would starve to death if it weren’t for us!” 

“Shut up Merle.” The smaller men said as he dropped the deer. Rick’s heart skipped a beat as he stared at the man he never thought he would see again. 

“And you should be more grateful too little brother.”

“The hell I should! I’m the one who tracked the damned thing for hours, you’re just the idiot who shot it ten fuckin’ miles away from camp and refused to carry it.” Daryl grumbled before his eyes fell on Rick, the shock of seeing him making him stumble back a few steps. 

“Well next time you should try shooting the damn thing instead of following it around like some pussyfootin’ idiot!” Merle snorted. “What’s the matter with you boy?” He then asked after noticing his brother’s lack of reaction. 

“Nothin’...” Daryl said as he looked anywhere but towards Rick. “I gotta go clean up.” He added before walking away.

“What about the deer?” Merle asked.

“You kill it, you gut it!” Daryl shouted back from the edge of the camp. Merle complained under his breath as he grabbed the deer but Rick ignored him and discreetly moved away from camp to find Daryl, the man he had been having an affair with for months before he got shot.

____

Even after finding out about Lori and Shane’s relationship, Rick had not considered having an affair of his own, not until he had met Daryl.

Rick had known he was bisexual since college, he even had had a few one night stands and one or two flings with guys before meeting Lori. He had never told anyone though. He had tried to convince himself that it had just been a phase, but it didn’t stop him from catching himself checking out some guys from time to time. Which is how their relationships had started. 

Rick had been drinking at his new regular bar, one that he knew Shane never went to, when Daryl had walked in. He didn’t have the confident swagger that most men had around there, that’s what had attracted Rick’s attention at first. Then he had noticed the lean muscled arms visible thanks to the cutoff sleeves of his dark green plaid shirt, the grease stains on his skin and clothes and the short dirty blond hair that almost fell in front of the blue eyes that had been staring his way. ‘Shit!’ Rick had thought has he had turned around to hide his blushing cheeks. He had been mortified, and even more so when Daryl had turned up right next to him, having silently made his way towards the empty seat on Rick’s left before audibly clearing out his throat.

“You should probably take off that ring before you start checking people out.” Daryl had said, his own cheeks reddening even though he was smirking as he sipped his beer. Rick had almost spit out his own drink before mumbling a pathetic answer that had ended in an apology.

They had talked for hours that night, tentatively at first but, by the end of the evening, Rick had told Daryl everything about his marriage, his ‘best friend’ and even the fact that with everything happening, he didn’t know if he could ever be happy again. Daryl had not shared much, he was more of a listener than a talker, but he had talked about his asshole brother who had been in jail, and a little bit about his job at the local auto repair shop. 

They had left the bar together, but even after a few too many telling stares they had chosen to part ways, not knowing if they would ever see eachother again. A week later, they had both showed up at the bar earlier than they would normally have. The moment their gazes had met, they had known where that night would lead and neither of them had done anything to stop it.

After that, for a few hours every week, Rick would go to Daryl’s place. Sometimes they had talked, sometimes Rick would read or watch TV while Daryl had worked on something or other for his bike. Sometimes, they could barely wait for the door to be closed before they would start to take each other’s clothes off. Sometimes, they just kissed and sometimes, they didn’t. Daryl had ‘moods’, at least it’s what Rick had called them. Somedays, he couldn’t stand to be touched. It hadn’t taken Rick a lot of time to understand why, he had seen the scars after all. 

Those stolen hours had been the best time Rick had had in a long time, but then something went wrong. Their level of intimacy had been progressively growing, so much so that Rick had felt more comfortable with Daryl than he had ever felt with Lori. Then, as they had laid in bed, Rick had said those three fucking words and Daryl had freaked out. He had jumped out of bed and started shouting. When that had not been enough to push Rick away, he had sneered and mocked Rick and his ‘little vengeance against his wife’ that had gone too far.

Eventually, Rick had left, slamming the door behind himself after they had both shouted themselves hoarse. Rick had tossed and turned next to his wife for hours that night. When he had gotten up, his decision had been made; he would go to Daryl’s after his shift and work things out. He never got to do that though, because that day was the day he had ended up in a coma after getting shot. 

____

Rick found Daryl kneeling near a spring, washing away the deer’s blood from his hands. He whispered his lover’s name as if he was afraid that it was all a dream and Daryl would disappear. 

“Don’t.” Daryl said. His hands were no longer moving and suddenly, his shoulders started to shake.

“Daryl, please…”

“They said you were dead… Those mother fucking assholes said you were dead.”

“They thought I was… I should’ve been. I don’t know how, or why I survived, I just… woke up in the hospital.”

At the mention of the hospital, Daryl let out an uncontrollable sob. Rick walked towards him and then knelt right next to him to be able to take him in his arms. Daryl arms flew around Rick, his hands gripping the other man’s t-shirt. Between the sobs, Rick could hear Daryl whisper “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” over and over again. He held his lover as tight as he could.

“It’s alright. I love you. It’s okay.” Rick whispered in Daryl ear until his sobs died down. 

“I love you too…” Daryl finally answered, his voice raw from crying too much. “I was going to tell you.. But then… you were in the news. I couldn’t visit… I didn’t know how you were doing or nothin’...”

“I know, I’m sorry. I was going to come by that day. I wanted to work it out.” Rick said before back off just enough to look at Daryl’s face. The hunter refused to look up so Rick encouraged him with a hand caressing his right cheek. When their eyes finally met, Rick smiled.

“Can we work it out?” He asked as he leaned forward to touch Daryl’s forehead with his own.

“Promise not to get shot again?” Daryl asked with a smirk.

“I promise.” Rick whispered as he finally reached for a kiss that had been long overdue. 

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Okay, first of all, sorry about that summary, I couldn't figure out anything better. If you have suggestion, I'll take them!
> 
> Second, I'm not really good at writing vernacular language in dialogues, especially accents so, I'm sorry if Daryl and Merle sound off. I hope they don't...
> 
> Last but not least : Your opinion, I want it! Gimme gimme gimme!!! Just a tiny comment would make my day!
> 
> Thank you for reading! 
> 
> Ana


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